'Hulu for magazines' to debut on Android as publishers struggle with Apple - Page 3

1984 has long since passed, Apple are different these days. They are a corporation. That said, they are not like Google. Apple are more honest and upfront about how they are using our data. That's the difference. And unlike Google and FaceBook, Apple give you a choice.

Every vid you've ever looked at on YouTube...and added to your favourites...

Regarding your earlier point, the Ghostery add-on for FireFox blocks GoogleAnalytics, and yes they are poking around at just about every page I visit. Also BetterPrivacy which blocks Flash permanent cookies (which bypass your browser preferences and stores them elsewhere without your knowledge). When I first installed it I had nearly 550 of the little critters squatting on my hard drive without my permission. I suspect this is still only sticking band-aid on a cracking dam, but at least I keep a bit of self respect this way!

Not gonna work, Google. Apple's infrastructure for these services is by far the strongest and most mature.

And, of course... If you don't want people to know you are moving -- perhaps you shouldn't be doing it!

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I actually think Apple recognizes that protecting user privacy, and not (ab)using what user data they do have, is good business. So, while many may think all companies are the same, and will do anything for a buck, they might consider that for some companies, what they will do for that buck is not sell you out, because that makes more money for them in the long run. Not caving to publishers is, I think, part of a broader Apple strategy that has to do with maintaining a certain level of trust with customers.

Unless you plan to change your name, too.

didn't you mean: www.yahoo.com ?

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Maybe Apple is just better at hiding the 'creepy' factor.
Think about this;
Apple has millions of people's phone numbers, addresses, emails, buying habits, taste's etc...
Apple sees companies like Google making gobs of cash/influence by utilizing said information.
Apple develops iOS that only allows their API's - to protect/control information.
Apple starts iAd
Apple pushes publishers to buy into them having full control over subscriptions/personal info etc...

I would argue that Apple is hiding behind 'privacy' as a PR campaign to win market share and point out some mistakes/weaknesses by Google. (if this thread is any indication, it's working).

Apple is still using our private information for their own gain. It's just done a very good PR job of pointing over to google as a distraction. Thus the comment theme, "Apple is the lesser of the evil's".
Maybe on the surface, but your privacy is still being treated as a commodity by Apple... it's just not as 'in your face' about it.

From what i'm reading, people are starting to accept the fact that their privacy is a commodity - and now focus on which company they would like to broker it.

Life in the information age \

"Google could [be/is] careless about privacy."

and

"Google couldn't care less about privacy..."


Likely, both are correct!

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I 100% disagree with your assessment. I have been getting all of my magazine subscriptions from zinio for the last three years. The early browsers were a little difficult to use, but the adobe air app for the Mac is excellent and the zinio app for the iPad is the best I have ever seen for reading magazines.....

In fact the zinio app for the iPad is one of the reasons why I decided to go ahead and buy the iPad....

To each his own I guess...

These comments are pure cynicism. They mirror perfectly Google and Facebook's fundamental Business philosophy:
the world we live in is half-empty; why don't we make a buck or two hollowing the resisting half? After all, what are nerdy geeks for?

Apple makes money out of being upfront and reverential towards their customers; they profit from filing up the voids Google and Facebook create in their wake. Why should a thriving business practice have to justify doing what's in their business interest, namely sowing secured, carefree computing experiences and reaping profit, ... and my ever so grateful patronage?

Honesty pays at least as much dividend as trickery. It's not a moral issue, it's a balance sheet issue.

And your evidence for this is?

Yes, I think cynical is the perfect word to describe rain's comments here.

The reasons you are wrong are staring in you the face. Apple sells lots and lots of expensive hardware and wants you to buy more. Their software, ecosystem, and privacy concerns (which they have repeatedly shown to take quite seriously) work in conjunction to sell you hardware. Yes, they will make money from other things but if the hardware and ecosystem suck...or if they start playing fast and loose with your privacy, their core business is negatively affected. Did you ever think how they dare charge for a service like mobileme when google and others provide it for free? Surely apple could provide it for free if they wanted to compete with google on an "ads and selling your data" model but they don't. And that's exactly why I am happy to pay for it.

OTOH, Google sells practically nothing but your information. If they can't abuse your private information, they are out of business. Period! And believe me, they are abusing and you ain't seen nothing yet.

The answer is as old as time: Follow the money.

I agree with your assessment fully and I have to question how old Ireland's experience with Zinio is and whether he ever tried it on the ipad.


Zinio for the iPad is the reason why I will be acquiring the second generation iPad. Oh, that and Apple's decision to renege on the draconian wording of clause 3.3.1 in the original iOS 4.0 SDK.

Can you say "Operation Skyhook replacement"?

I'm sure all the Chinese workers making Android phones for HTC, Motorola, Samsung, SonyEricsson etc will be pleased with their bonuses...

...what do you mean, Google's "slave labour" in China don't qualify?

Foxconn don't exclusively make Apple products.

Well stated.

Good stuff. Please post a whole lot more of this sort of thing.

I wish I had a big brother just like Steve. He's great.

Zinio has it's place.
I get a few mags on Zinio, and I have subscribed to a couple of magazines on a dedicated iPad app. There are pros and cons both ways.

The Zinio magazines are mostly straight copies of the print magazines. They sometimes include some links to websites, and they also have the ability to include additional photo galleries and videos.

One of the magazines I get on Zinio includes a paper subscription. I especially like that, as I have the option to read the paper version if I prefer, and I can throw it away, even if I would like to hang on to some of the articles. Before Zinio, magazines would pile up, especially the how-to types that I wanted to retain.

I can read the Zinio magazines on my iPad, iPhone, and Mac. I can delete the files, and download them again anytime from Zinio. And, there is an HTML version available, so I can read my magazines on any computer using a browser. I can even print out some of the pages, although they include a watermark.

The special versions of magazines for the iPad I have sampled had very cool layouts, embedded videos, pictures... generally a good "feel" for use on the iPad. I enjoy reading these on the iPad more than their Zinio cousins, but I can't bring them up on my Cinema Display. That is a little frustrating.

So, Zinio could use a little improvement for use on mobile devices, but it still has versatility in terms of the number of ways it can be viewed, and a large number of available magazines. Personally, I do not want a separate app for every magazine subscription. I currently "subscribe" (ie in-app purchase each month) to two non-Zinio mags on my iPad, and each has its own app.

I would love to see the iBook app become a magazine platform as well. However, I would also like to see Apple adopt some of the practices of Zinio (which would be pretty detrimental to Zinio).

Could just be Google got tired of their underpaid employees being constantly lured away. If google actually manufactured anything, they would be using Chinese factories too. Nice try though, too bad you are very confused.

Cynicism, truth, pick your favorite. Doesn't change the fact that Apple is profiting off your personal information. We just happen to prefer Apple's method of exploiting us over Google's.

I'll be a contrarian on Zinio. I've found the price to be reasonable and having access to the device on my desktop and iPad is great. On the iPhone, forget it, it's too small.

While it's just a PDF of the magazine it serves its purpose for me:

* I get the content
* price is reasonable
* there are no magazines taking up space in my house

Until the magazine apps get pricing in sync with what they offer at Zinio, I'll stick with Zinio.

Lets all participate in completing this sentence in relation to the article;

In my perfect world, Apple would...

... forget about dealing with the large publication houses, and make Pages a kick-ass iPad publication tool with full interactive support. Let the millions of bloggers, journalists, designers, photographers, artists, writers, animators and advertisers - create their own publications. Let the market dictate what publications shine through.

Squeezing publishing houses for control of the very essence of what their business is... is futile and plain dumb.

An "Android Tablet" hasn't even been released yet. Just oversized phones.

Android 2.3/3.0 "Gingerbread" should be out by early 2011. This new version will actually support tablets, so you will see screens >7".

Hopefully they settle on a couple of different screen sizes and resolutions.

This was a thread about mobile platforms and the publishing industry... Until extremeskater tried to subvert it by talking about Google guys getting a fucking bonus and working conditions in China



My personal vitriol is mostly directed towards the guys that constantly seem to hijack threads.

Lots of reports about Foxconn haven't seen any regarding the others. Its hard to slant this as a negative even on this forum. Its pretty damn good that Google is giving out a bonus and 10% pay raises, its really hard to slant that as a negative.

In a US economy where most people don't even get raises and haven't for several years now Google is doing well in this case. Like I said Apple record earning we don't hear about them handing out this kind of money.

Too bad you are stupid enough to think a company has to manufacture something to make money, nice try but clearly you are the one that is confused.

Try again.

Well, I think we all agreed that it was definitely cynicism and that you hadn't established any of the wild assertions you made, nor these.

Too bad you didn't understand his point.

Google do at least tell you how to opt out.

http://www.google.com/ads/preference.../browsers.html

The really scary ones are the smaller companies. Google gets lots of media attention so has to be careful, but the smaller players fly under the radar and therefore get away with much worse.

There are plenty Apps that are only useful to subscribers of that service (Netflix, Hulu, and the Wall Street Journal to name a few). I don't get why these magazines don't just make free applications that only have content for subscribers. They can even make a special online only subscription for those that don't want the print version.

I understood it and it was wrong. Do you even know why it was wrong?

Don't post if you're not adding to the discussion. Here's a hint: A position is normally supported by arguments and evidence.

I agree with ltcompuser on the merits of the Zinio offering. Also, having the knowledge that I can retain my subscription content even if I decide to replace my mobile platform gives me great comfort that my money hasn't been wasted on native iPad magasines.


Likewise - also I'd like to point out that the magasines served through the Zinio reader include a clickable table of contents and also give you the possibility of having the text of the article displayed in a WriteRoom-like fashion (i.e. without pictures, layout and formatting), which gives you the best of both worlds: The ability to enjoy the photos with the clarity of easily readable high contrast text.

Best solution to "The Problem" posted 'til now!

Go one step further, and include a new version of iWeb to create HTML5 compliant web-apps and sites, and let the creatives go at it!

No one other single group has stoked the flames of the digital revolution more than individual creatives, and the arts in general. Since Postscript and Midi hit the scene 20+ years ago, we've been doing the "envelope pushing" with the tools available, and our pocketbooks.

We are begging at the moment for better tools, since Adobe won the "Creative Software War". A bloated behemoth which is reflected in their software, and is more concerned with jumping in the sack with the other "Big Mamas" of publishing, rather than enabling the independent and small creatives who supported them and put them on their pedestal in the first place.

Would love to see Apple pick up this fight for real, rather than just poke at Adobe continuously. Quit jabbin' and go for the KO already (TKO would be better i s'pose

Do it with user-friendly tools and alternatives to what's out there. Make it fun again, like everything else SJ expounds and professes in Apple's products. "Magical" comes to mind even....

I reply with the arguments and evidence a post deserves. If it deserves none, it gets none.

Where is YOUR proof? Honestly, if you're just going to overlook the huge mound of data that Apple has been able to start collecting about users since the launch of iTunes, then where is your proof that Google is "abusing" my personal information?

Seriously, as has been pointed out over and over, Google's entire business model is built on collecting and exploiting personal information. All of their products are designed with the goal of collecting as much of that as possible. Without that, they have nothing to generate revenue from. Apple on the other hand, generates revenue from hardware sales, and all of their services are designed to promote that. Without exploiting your personal information for profit, including sharing it with 3rd-parties, Google is out of business, Apple has no need to do so. To the contrary, Apple has every reason to treat your personal information as confidential data, and keep it out of the hands of 3rd-parties, otherwise they lose the trust of their customers, which is worth more to them than the data.

This whole disagreement with publishers highlights the fact that Apple is not selling or giving away the information they have, so it's ridiculous to imply that they are. Anyone who does so deserves nothing but scorn.